Halloween Haze

Once again a crazy making week produces fun results.  I wasn't into Halloween that much this  year but we all love to dress up.  Nearly last minute, inspiration finally hit!

We somehow decided Birdy would be Lil Red Riding Hood and S would be the werewolf. Oldest decided to be a 50's Greaser and baby K would be a froggy. How to implement everything on a limited budget? Heck--on NO budget?

I dug through my fabric stash & searched google images for inspiration.(first pic on the left) I found the sweetest LRH costume and was determined to recreate it to the best of my ability. I started with the cape, not to hard to manage. I had some cheap faux velvet.  Then the skirt, I had some thin red corduroy. We pulled out a white button up shirt left over from a few Christmases ago.  I went to my favorite Ribbon Store to stock up on some eyelet lace trim for less than $4. Found a bit of black velvet in the stash for the vest look up top. No basket but we scored a free trickRtreat bucket from Michael's Arts n Crafts Store.  I attached the white fabric apron to the skirt and made it a tie on wrap skirt.  It ended up a wee bit too big, but you'd never know.

Here was the finished product: 

That was the best shot we got--it was sunny and hot, but she looked great.  This pic was taken early, the ribbon in front actually went up much higher up on the shirt.

Our werewolf was having a hard time deciding how he wanted his werewolf to dress.  He finally decided he wanted to focus more on face makeup. I have a professional theatrical make up kit. He did want furry hands though. (I had some black furry fabric in the stash) Oldest got the brilliant idea to make the furry gloves fingerless. He actually sewed them once I pieced them together. (it was a family affair!)

He then wore a Tshirt, ripped jeans, a suit jacket he had and his regular converse.

DH ended up doing S's make up and it came out fabulous!!! Thank goodness cause I never did that well in my theater make up class.

Later we painted his nails (claws) black.  Oldest was able to pull his costume together with a basic white T, a pair of blue jeans, and his black converse.  We added the appropriate touches like cuffed jeans, a black leather jacket some uncle had given him, a crayon box folded up into the sleeves of his T to represent 'cigs' along with a white crayon by his ear.  I did have to help him do his hair. heehee.  I especially loved the curl we did in the middle of his forehead.

{pic to be added}

Baby K, well he was just the cutest frog EVER!!! I crocheted him a green froggy head beanie.  He didn't really own any green clothing except a onesie and that just wouldn't do for an Autumn night.  We found a green pair of leggings on clearance @ Target for less than $2 and a green long sleeve shirt with a green frog looking monster on the front with the words FEED ME for $4. So his total costume cost was $6!!

I did not have a chance to whip out anything for myself.  I ended up feeling almost fluish anyway.  We spent the evening w/ friends, which was nice cause the Wife made some delicious chicken soup and chili.  We carved pumpkins, the kiddos decorated cup cakes, trickRtreated and played.

I am still impressed that for 4 kids & 5 costumes (DH was working but he was a werewolf too), we spent under $10! 

This morning...

My oldest is in 11th grade & will be 17 in Jan. (arg! I can't believe it myself! boohoo...wahwah! lol)  He has been prayed over, blessed & received many prophetic words, this past year and a half especially. They have a tendency to focus on his gift of wisdom, in comparison to his age. I have no doubt God has great plans for his life, as He does for each of us, but many children are never told or encouraged in that way.

Well this morning at church, he was spoken over and blessed in a different way.  We had guest worshipers. The women leading is from the Chumash tribe of Native Americans and the rest of her team is Native American as well.  First a man came in dancing and his native dress was like that of a bird, an eagle I think. He had feathers, like wings along his arms. I immediately felt moved to tears watching him. I can't really say why.

After more music and dancing the leader, Ruth, called up Pastor David to offer him gifts and some prophetic words. Then she felt led to call up a *youth*.  Pastor David chose Ernie, my oldest. She and her team offered him gifts as well and spoke prophetic and encouraging words to him individually and in general as a representative of the next generation.

It was so amazing to watch this all happen.  I felt so humbled and so blessed.

They gave the pastor a blanket and also my son a blanket. It had a picture of wolves on it. Ruth shared that she felt the wolves were like the youth. Wolves tend to have a bad reputation in the wilderness but they are respected animals by the Native Americans. They said that it has been said that when little Native American children would wander away from the village, wolves would lead them home.

One of their team, another pastor, said even when E goes out into the world, he will always be able to find his way home & he will always have a home to return to. Another woman gave him one of her hand crafted instruments.  It was a stick, a thick branch really, that was split half way down the middle to make a clapping sound.  She had engraved: Joy of the Lord, on it. She told him that she cared about the youth.

They also asked him what he was sensing or feeling and he said that he feels sometimes that people look at him and think: you're 'just' a kid, but that he *does* have something to offer.  They agreed with him and spoke more encouraging words to him about being a leader of the future, that maybe they would be listening to him leading one day, that they want to learn from him...

It was so neat & such a blessing to watch this unfold. This verse came to mind...as my heart was moved.

Luke 2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 

Later he gave her a piece of prophetic art he did during the service and she understood it immediately. S gave her one too. He showed it to me first but all I saw in it was colored scribble scrabble and musical notes. When she showed it to me I could then see the scribble scrabble was actually giant hearts on the page.  Even I knew exactly what it meant for her and she did too. She was very touched and blessed by the pictures she received and our children.

I am so consistently amazed and blessed by my children. I want to be such a better mother to them.

Long Term Investments

It's no secret that we are living in a very fast paced, technologically advanced age.  Our kids have no idea what it is to wait to purchase an album when they can get any song in virtually seconds, online. Saving up to buy something? Why? With instant credit.

How impatient do we get when our DSL takes a more than a few seconds to upload a page. We can be contacted at any given moment via cell phone, instant messages, instant email, instant pictures, instant updates.....most everything is immediate & if it is *not*...Yikes!

I'm not writing anything new or that you don't already know.

However, this is all man's timing. Our technology and pace of life may have changed but the truth is God's has not. A tree takes the same amount of time to mature today, as it did 2000 years ago. A baby still takes about 9 months to fully mature to birth. Flowers are not produced instantaneously, they must all start from seeds. Fruit still grows on trees.

God has not changed his timing. We are under His concept of time, not ours.  We can get so rushed sometimes and feel frustrated when we do not see instant results; in ministry, in our personal lives, relationships, in answers. Right? Are we expecting instant messages form God? How hard is it for us to pray and WAIT for an answer? How long are we willing to wait, if we even do.

John the Baptist, I have decided, is my Biblical hero. I love everything I have read about him from the Bible. But I think more of his mother. Elizabeth and Mary both were humbled and blessed to give birth to John and the Messiah himself.

Promises were given to them, about the children they carried in their womb but how long before their mission was actually fulfilled. We know Christ did not begin his ministry until he was 30 years old. 3 years later he was dead. How long Mary herself, had to wait, and I imagine, pray over her child, to see his mission and purpose fulfilled.

Elizabeth, how long she waited (and possibly given up hope) to have a child of her own and then to see his purpose fulfilled. Which then fulfilled their own very purpose..to raise up these men.

It can be easy to feel discouraged when we are not seeing immediate results. I challenge myself and anyone else who may read this to take time to wait. Wait for the investment pay off. Obedient children aren't born, they are raised. You don't wake up and run a marathon in one day. You must train for it.

The same goes for ministry or answers to prayer. Keep on keeping on. I believe the results of most of our efforts pay out in years. Don't stop praying. Don't give up. Don't stop training. Personally, I am beginning to see results of a vision I was given over 10 years ago! I can barely believe it myself. I didn't even believe it was possible when I first got the idea but it's happening. And it's quite possible if I had stayed the course from the beginning, it may have happened even sooner.

Remember, everything you do for the kingdom, is a LONG TERM INVESTMENT. The return may not and probably won't be immediate. But it will be everlasting.

Our House...

This is just how things go in our house:

Baby is not feeling good and feels very hot to the touch when he awakes in the middle of the night. I get up to find our handy digital ear thermometer. I finally find it only to realize that my dd had been playing with it and it now stuck on Celsius.  Which means nothing to me, right?

It only has 2 buttons and between those 2 buttons I can not figure out how to get it back to Fahrenheit! Very frustrating in the middle of the night.  I am so tired and annoyed that I am tempted to wake up my 7 year old daughter *just* to tell her not to play with the thermometer anymore.

My husband wakes up and I let him know the situation.  He suggests I just get on the laptop and look up the manual online.  Which is the same ridiculous thought I had earlier. Naturally I do this.  It requires resetting the router all the way in the living room, finding the power plug to the laptop that can't hold a charge and locating the laptop itself.

Reformatting the thermometer was simple. Good. I take baby's temperature and it reads 96 degrees! arg! I take mine to double check and mine is only 94 degrees! It obviously has issues. All that time spent was apparently useless! After all that I attempt to go back to sleep. {sigh}

Someday I will be organized and my home will be uncluttered.  A girl can dream, can't she?

17 years!

I can hardly believe it myself. I've been having  a personally trying time this past week, so our anniversary wasn't anything particularly exciting...

But it is exciting to think we are so close to the 20 year mark! I am looking forward to some 'breakthrough' & hoping for positive changes to come our way...so I imagine for our next few anniversary's, we will be in a much better position to celebrate.

We went to Disneyland, of course, but this time we took the whole family.  Usually we spend the day alone together celebrating.  It was quite anti-climactic. We could barely get out of the house. We discovered we had a flat tire & that needed to get fixed before we could go anywhere. That must be our 3rd or 4th flat in just about as many months!!! Seriously!

Then it was *really* crowded.  We went on ONE ride? The kids went on one too...but we saw the fireworks which was nice.

They had them themed for Halloween. The one ride we went on was Space Mountain.  It was extra dark & they had fresh new graphics for Halloween. It was pretty scary looking. It was this flaming, ghostly, demonic looking *thing* that is trying to grab you through out the ride. It's simply projected on the walls but it's not a face you want to go to bed thinking of.  (or have your little ones thinking of)

We spent our time waiting for the fireworks talking with this guy we met & his teenage daughter. That was probably the highlight of the evening. (I'm such an extrovert! I'm always so energized after visiting w/ people.)  We wanted to see Fantasmic but it was just too crowded. We are thinking we might go back some evening this week just to watch it so we can see the big dragon. lol

I did have a fun time gathering a bunch of old pix of DH & myself & putting them all in one album on my Facebook. It was a nice short trip down memory lane. I even started with our wedding picture...we were so young.... :-D

Hope is never lost!

I'd been having a pretty tough few days. 

THEN---I believe it was a SIGN: the most amazing thing happened:
the middles had collected some caterpillars from the passion vine. They ALL died. One had started a cocoon but  it looked like it died half way through making it as part of it's body seemed to be sticking out & was all black. EEEWWEEE.

IDK why I didn't toss the jar earlier.

BUT THEN Sam came in & was so excited to inform us that he just found the NEW BUTTERFLY on it's cocoon. It had just worked it's way out!!!

It had NOT died after all. Sam is the most sensitive about these things so it was SO neat how gentle he was & excited about the butterfly.  He had it in his hand & it was gathering it's strength opening & closing it's wings but wasn't ready to fly away yet.

And I PERSONALLY felt like it was a sign from God. Hope is NOT all lost--even if it looks like everything (or hope) is DEAD!!!

It is interesting to note that even after the catepillar had undergone it's transformation, it still had to open and close it's wings, gathering strength for it's new life, it's new journey. He was able to hold onto it for quite awhile.  We finally placed it gently on the passion flower vine to begin it's new life. When we checked later it was gone...

13.1

If I ever get a tattoo, I think that will be it. lol

I did it. It was a challenge no doubt but I did it.

It was not easy but I did it.

I. did. IT!

Looking back I can say it was pretty FUN! All along the race course route were highschool cheerleaders, highschool bands, a mariachi band, polynesian dancers, 4H club members, girl scouts, employees and characters in the parks and regular spectators cheering for family and friends. The cheering and encouragement meant SO MUCH! It was amazing. My girl friends seemed to like running through Angel stadium the best because of the crowds cheering, but I liked running through Disneyland the best. That *is* why I signed up, right? ;-)

The last mile felt like 13 by itself! The spectators cheering meant so much, especially when they said MY name. (it's on my bib)

I stuck to my strategy of running between water stops & walking through them. Towards the end I walked more but didn't give up. My time was decent for an amateur: 2:53. Less than 3 hours.

Once I got out of the finish que & reunited with my family...I immediately needed to nurse baby K. I don't think Ive ever felt like a stronger woman than in that moment.

Run 13.1 miles and breastfeed baby! Can you get more female than that? haha.

I refused to take off my medal all day. I earned it, I'm wearing it! I'm proud of it.

Tami, me & Jen

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

Disneyland Half Marathon!

I should be asleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went to a birthday party today...did not eat as i planned but tried to pay attention...Had steak, bean, rice burrito w/ sour cream, lots of grapes, some tortilla chips, too many peanut m&ms & slice of cake. Felt way too full when i left.

Forgot to hydrate like i wanted...Am forcing myself to eat 2 eggs cooked in coconut oil right now before bed...trying to go to bed early...but baby won't go to sleep. My alarm is set for 4:45 am--that scares me!! I can't find my camera!

I don't like to eat before i run--gives me a side ache--but will try to remember to eat a banana & peanut butter on bread tomorrow morning...or maybe just a spoon of peanut butter better!

My strategy is to walk through water stops & run between. Hope that will conserve energy enough for me to keep a decent pace for the long haul! Most stops are 1-1.5 miles apart w/ the exception between miles 7-9, 2 miles apart.

Gotta think positive...and get some SLEEP!!!!!!!!!

it was a long week

Later that day, of my previous post, my FIL was taken off life support. He was surrounded by his 3 daughters, his son, his wife, mother, son in law & myself as he took his last breath and his heart stopped beating. My chest felt physically painful through it. I'm not sure why but it hurt a lot, right in my heart.

It.was.absolutely.GUT.wrenching!

It took a few more hours after that, before they removed his body.

The next day was my husband's birthday. It was not an easy day. It was filled w/ an extreme range of emotions.

The next week was a whirlwind of activity, funeral home appointments and arrangements, beginning of school for my ktbunch, sewing funeral dresses for my daughter and niece, phone calls, random meals, skipped meals, incoming family, late nights barely filled with rest and sleep.

The funeral was this past Saturday. My Birdy sobbed, uncontrollably from the moment it started, until near the end when I finally took her outside. Sammyboy cried stoically, giant crocodile tears silently sliding down his face. We were in the middle of a triple digit heat wave.

We stayed with my mother in law until all the sod was replaced. It's fitting that the dirt replacement machine is so obnoxiously and disturbingly loud. It is not a peaceful job by any means. I think death is disturbing. Even when expected, it is shocking. It's not anything anyone really 'wants'. That machine is loud, it pounds the ground over and over to press the dirt over the vault that holds the coffin. Then they roll out the sod and it presses that too. Then they put a large piece of plywood over that and press again. It's not pressing as much as it really is pounding.

Like a heart, pounding so hard. Pounding to stay alive. You can't help but flinch with the idea that this is so opposite of 'resting in peace'....and somehow so appropriate.

My husband made a wonderful slide show that was shown at the funeral. I kick myself that I didn't take more pictures these last few weeks. I don't know why! I think there may be only ONE picture of baby K with his 'tata'. :( It is very sad to realize he will never know his tata or Grandma Gale or Grandma Curtis.

Lil E was a pall bearer. My family all looked so nice and handsome. The boys all wore suits. The Birdy and I wore dresses. I was told how well my children behaved through the viewing and the funeral. That was nice to hear.

Now, we search to find our 'new normal'....again.

same place, different floor

My Father-in-Law is in the local hospital. The same hospital that i have given birth to 3 of my 4 children.

The place where life begins for many, is the same place life may end for many, as well.

Hospitals are tricky places. The majority of people there are there because they are trying to *get well*. They are sick and want to be healed. Only child birth isn't a sickness or disease to be cured of. Interesting.

This particular hospital will be closed down in less than a month. A new one, in the same health plan, has been built down the street. It opens Sept 15, 2009. I wonder what happens to all the patients in the old hospital that day. Do they transfer each and every one of them by ambulance to the new hospital? What an undertaking that must be.

And all those paper files and records huh? Is there a transition period? Or is it simply that quick and easy that it can all happen in just one day.

Father in law is in the ICU. They have a 2 visitors at a time policy. I think that is pretty weird if the person is not expected to live very long. And why haven't we heard from hospice yet? I don't understand. Is that only for people willing to die...at home? Is it because father in law has chosen to receive all life saving procedures necessary? And why didn't we hear from or see any doctor all day? Why haven't they informed us of how far along he is or isn't?

I think it's very strange. But I am the 'in law' so it's different. I can't really ask the questions or approach the doctor. Bad enough I was the one bringing up the funeral arrangements.

But I am practical...I know it would be horrendous to have to try & think through that when the need actually *arises*, in that moment. So I do the ugly thing & bring it up now. But I also know it's the right & helpful thing to do.

I started the research for my husband since he asked me to. *MORE* mortuaries and funeral homes should really invest in web sites. Get with the 21st century people!!!